Higgins, Madigan debate

Challenger
Mike Madigan of Grand Island and incumbent Congressman Brian Higgins
held their second political debate this week leading up to next
week's election in the 26th District.

Hosted
by the Niagara Falls Block Club Council, the forum was held at the
Niagara Falls Public Library.

Madigan
stressed two major points in his campaign, first, that government
officeholders have demonstrated a "failure to lead over the last
30, 40 years as demonstrated in the outcomes. Our inner cities are
war zones. We need to do something different."

Citing
the region's loss of population and growing economic stagnation,
Madigan said, "We failed in the leadership role here in terms of
retaining people, growing business and being prosperous."

Second,
Madigan called inner city eduction "the civil rights issue of our
time," saying the 10 most violent cities in the U.S. have the worst
educational systems.

Higgins
said the federal government must invest in the economy to create
growth. Less than 12 years ago the government had a federal budget
surplus, he said. "That was made possible by creating 22 million
private sector jobs in the previous eight years. How did we do that?
By investing in our own economy: scientific research, infrastructure
and education," Higgins said.

Austerity
measures have historically failed in the past, Higgins said.
Waterfront redevelopment, among other investments, have created jobs
in Western New York.

"The
fact of the matter is that we have secured over $448 million in
funding to redevelop downtown Buffalo and the Buffalo waterfront,
which is translated into thousands of jobs in both the construction
trades, supply and materials industry," Higgins said, also calling
the growth of the medical corridor in Buffalo and the life sciences
job sector as vital.